HẬU GIANG – Seven credit organisations have committed to give the Mekong Delta region loans totalling VNĐ28.5 trillion (US$1.3 billion) to implement 73 socio-economic development projects.

This was announced by Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) Đào Minh Tú at a workshop held in Hậu Giang Province yesterday.

Tú said as many as 16 credit contracts, worth VNĐ10 trillion in all, were signed at the event.

As part of the Mekong Delta Economic Co-operation (MDEC) Forum 2016, the workshop on bank credit for the Mekong Delta region’s socio-economic development was an opportunity for localities, enterprises and experts to discuss credit policies in particular and banking activities in general to help the region’s development. 

Trương Cảnh Tuyên, deputy chairman of the Hậu Giang provincial People’s Committee, said besides the State budget, capital from banks had made important contributions to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta region in general and Hậu Giang Province in particular. 

Thanks to bank loans, many businesses and farming households in the region had more resources to expand production and improve the quality of agricultural products.

According to the SBV, the region’s capital mobilisation accounts for about seven per cent of the total capital mobilised for the national economy. Bank credit has also seen a gradual increase in recent years.

From the beginning of the year, the total outstanding loans of credit institutions based in the southwestern region reached VNĐ400 trillion ($18 billion), up 3.3 per cent year-on-year, comprising eight per cent of the country’s total outstanding loans.

Noticeably, loans for agricultural production increased 10 per cent, compared to the figure at the end of last year.

Market stabilisation

The same day, a conference was held to review market stabilisation activities in the region and in HCM City.

Participants discussed issues such as the expansion of the distribution system and promotion of products that meet safety standards, and called upon enterprises to join market stabilisation programmes.

At the conference, the industry and trade departments of the Mekong Delta provinces and HCM City said the industry and trade ministry should co-operate with relevant ministries and agencies to study the possibility of establishing an essential goods’ price stabilisation fund to ensure supply and demand balance.

Lê Ngọc Trung, deputy head of the ministry’s southern operation department, said the Mekong Delta region had advantages in terms of food and foodstuff supplies, while HCM City had a strong textile and garments sector. Thus the region and the city should use their potential to stabilise the market more effectively.

The ministry committed to provide information about supply and demand, and market prices to the localities and the city for better management of the market, and for enterprises to proactively realise their business strategies.

In the first six months of the year, 140 enterprises across the Mekong Delta region and in HCM City participated in price stabilisation programmes, and financial aid worth VNĐ23 trillion was mobilised for the participants from banks. – VNS